Vince D’Adamo: What did you enjoy most about competing in athletics throughout your life?
TJ Ross: At first the answer to this question is simple. The competition. I love to compete at the highest level against the best. The drive to be the best, and succeed is what keeps you moving forward. However, as time has passed the competitor in me has never left, but I realize now the thing I enjoyed most about athletics were the relationships that were created. These friendships far outweigh any win.
There is a bond that is created between people who come together for a common goal. Working alongside someone in the gym, the field, the classroom you get to truly know someone at a level not many people get to. You see a side of someone that truly reflects them as a whole, and set the foundation for these people in there life after athletics. I’ve created lifelong friendships with coaches, mentors, and teammates. These individuals have played, and will continue to play a role in my life. It’s a very humbling feeling knowing that you have these people in your corner.
D’Adamo: What have you been doing since graduating from high school?
Ross: After graduating Vintage I knew I wanted to play and compete at the next level. With no colleges interested at the time I went to continue my football career at Solano Junior College. It was there I was able to compete, earn a starting position on the D-Line and eventually earn all-conference honors and the team’s Defensive MVP during my two year stint as a Falcon. From Solano I was able to earn a scholarship to play football for the University of Sioux Falls where I finished my collegiate career as a nose guard assisting the Cougars in winning back to back National Championships (08’-09’), while earning a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, with a minor in Criminal Justice in 2010.
After graduation I worked my way to become a General Manger of a local restaurant in Sioux Falls for a few years, then moved back home to California to the Sacramento area in 2012. I found a career in residential real-estate lending as a Mortgage Consultant after joining my current company Paramount Equity. It’s at Paramount where I met my wife and we were married in 2015. We just celebrated our one year wedding anniversary on the August 15 th and are expecting the arrival of our first child, a little girl in December. My football career has come full circle. This season I’ll be assisting as the D-line/Assistant Defensive coordinator for the Lincoln Jr Zebras Youth football program at the Midget level.
D’Adamo: What was your favorite class at Vintage High?
Ross: I really enjoyed history class. Learning about past civilizations, cultures, and American history. It’s always been very interesting to me to see how things “used to be”, and where we come from our pasts etc. While I was in Italy last year being able to see the monuments, statues, cathedrals I once studied was surreal. My wife and I talk about it all the time how much fun it would be to vacation on the east coast to see all the historical locations from our founding
fathers.
D’Adamo: What was your favorite athletic moment at Vintage High?
Ross: There were a few that come to mind, Kurt Buechler’s last second 3-pointer to beat Napa High in big game basketball at their house, the season that the Vintage JV baseball team won the MEL championship, led by Cam Neal, but the one that sticks out the most was the 2005 Big Game Football that Vintage won.
That year we started the year 0-3, Napa was the powerhouse it had always been, they came into that came with a perfect season. That game was for the MEL Championship pennant and Napa would hold it out right if they won, and if we won we would split the honors with them. It would also secure both teams a place in the playoffs. Big Game has such an energy about it in Napa’s community anyway, but this just sweetened the pot. Walking away with a W in that game, and how we did it was something special. It was a good way to send us seniors out, and defined that team in my opinion. No matter how big the moment, the game, or the adversity that needed to be overcome that team had the mentality of, “bring it”. It was an honor to play along all those athletes (both teams) and be a part of another MEL Championship Team for Les Franco and be a part of his historical career as a coach in the valley.
D’Adamo: How much do you feel you have grown personally since graduating from high school and how much of that do you trace to athletics?
Ross: It’s amazing at 18 how you think you have it all figured out. It’s after graduation when you leave the bubble is when you truly get introduced to the world. Being an athlete I contribute a significant amount of my personal growth to athletics.
Athletics teaches you discipline, work ethic, how to overcome adversity, to be a team player, most importantly how to lose and how to stand up and fight to be back on top. The list goes on, but I think you get what I’m trending towards. Being able to compete in athletics just builds that foundation of skills that I use every day.
D’Adamo: Within your family, who have been the most influential people?
Ross: My parents hand downs. I would never be where I’m at in my life professionally, and personally without them. They laid the foundation for me to grow and instilled in me the ability to embrace all that life has to give.
D’Adamo: Name a historical figure, dead or alive, in or out of sports you would most like to meet.
Ross: Meeting Vince Lombardi would be pretty great. Being a packers fan for one, but also to experience how he conducted himself, how he demanded excellence, how he brought the most out of a person.
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